White House, formerly Executive Mansion (1810–1902), the official

office and residence of the president of the United States at 1600

Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. in Washington, D.C. The White House and
its landscaped grounds occupy 18 acres (7.2 hectares). Since the
administration of George Washington (1789–97), who occupied
presidential residences in New York and Philadelphia, every American
president has resided at the White House. Originally called the
“President’s Palace” on early maps, the building was officially named
the Executive Mansion in 1810 in order to avoid connotations of
royalty. Although the name “White House” was commonly used from
about the same time (because the mansion’s white-gray sandstone
contrasted strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings), it did not
become the official name of the building until 1902, when it was
adopted by President Theodore Roosevelt (1901–09). The White House
is the oldest federal building in the nation’s capital.

The building’s history begins in 1792, when a public competition was

held to choose a design for a presidential residence in the new capital
city of Washington. Thomas Jefferson, later the country’s third
president (1801–09), using the pseudonymous initials “A.Z.,” was
among those who submitted drawings, but Irish American architect
James Hoban won the commission (and a $500 prize) with his plan for a
Georgian mansion in the Palladian style. The structure was to have
three floors and more than 100 rooms and would be built in sandstone
imported from quarries along Aquia Creek in Virginia. The cornerstone
was laid on October 13, 1792. Labourers, including local slaves, were
housed in temporary huts built on the north side of the premises. They
were joined by skilled stonemasons from Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1793.

Drawing of the elevation of the White House by James Hoban, 1792; in

the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore

Drawing of the elevation of the White House by James Hoban, 1792; in

the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore

Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore

In 1800 the entire federal government was relocated from Philadelphia

to Washington. John Adams, the country’s second president (1797–
1801), moved into the still unfinished presidential mansion on
November 1st and the next night wrote in a letter to his wife, Abigail
Adams:

I Pray Heaven Bestow the Best of Blessings on This House and All that
shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule
under this Roof.

At the insistence of President Franklin Roosevelt (1933–45), the

quotation was inscribed on the fireplace of the State Dining Room
immediately below the portrait of Abraham Lincoln, by George Healy.
When Abigail Adams finally arrived in Washington several days later,
she was disappointed with the inadequate state of the residence. The
first lady wrote,

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There is not a single apartment finished. We have not the least fence,
yard, or other convenience outside. I use the great unfinished audience
room [East Room] as a drying room for hanging up the clothes.

The White House In The 19th Century

The mansion quickly became a focal point of the new federal city and
was symbolically linked to the United States Capitol by way of
Pennsylvania Avenue. Following his inauguration in March 1801
Jefferson became the second president to reside in the executive
mansion. In keeping with his ardent republicanism, he opened the
house to public visitation each morning, a tradition that was continued
(during peacetime) by all his successors. He personally drew up
landscaping plans and had two earthen mounds installed on the south
lawn to remind him of his beloved Virginia piedmont. Meanwhile,
construction continued on the building’s interior, which still lacked
ample staircases and suffered from a persistently leaky roof. During
Jefferson’s tenure, the White House was elegantly furnished in Louis
XVI style (known in America as Federal style).

White House plan

White House plan

Plan of the principal story of the White House in 1803, original drawing
by Benjamin Latrobe, 1807.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

During the War of 1812 the building was burned by the British, and
President James Madison (1809–17) and his family were forced to flee
the city. The Madisons eventually moved into the nearby Octagon
House, the Washington mansion of John Tayloe, a Virginia plantation
owner. Reconstruction and expansion began under Hoban’s direction,
but the building was not ready for occupancy until 1817, during the
administration of President James Monroe (1817–25). Hoban’s
reconstruction included the addition of east and west terraces on the
main building’s flanks; a semicircular south portico and a colonnaded
north portico were added in the 1820s.

The Taking of the City of Washington in America, wood engraving by G.

Thompson, 1814. The work depicts the night of August 24, 1814, when
British troops marched into Washington, D.C., and set fire to federal
buildings, including the Capitol and the Executive Mansion (now known
as the White House).

The Taking of the City of Washington in America, wood engraving by G.

Thompson, 1814. The work depicts the night of August 24, 1814, when
British troops marched into Washington, D.C., and set fire to federal
buildings, including the Capitol and the Executive Mansion (now known
as the White House).

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-USZ62-1939)

During the 19th century the White House became a symbol of

American democracy. In the minds of most Americans, the building was
not a “palace” from which the president ruled but merely a temporary
office and residence from which he served the people he governed. The
White House belonged to the people, not the president, and the
president occupied it only for as long as the people allowed him to stay.
The idea of a president refusing to leave the White House after losing
an election or an impeachment trial was unthinkable.

The inauguration of Andrew Jackson (1829–37), the “people’s

president,” attracted thousands of well-wishers to the nation’s capital.
As Jackson rode on horseback down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White
House, he was surrounded by a frenetic throng of 20,000 people, many
of whom attempted to follow him into the mansion to get a better look
at their hero. A contemporary, Margaret Bayer Smith, recounts what
happened next: “The halls were filled with a disorderly rabble…
scrambling for the refreshments designed for the drawing room.” While
friends of the new president joined arms to protect him from the mob,
“china and glass to the amount of several thousand dollars were broken
in the struggle to get at the ices and cakes, though punch and other
drinkables had been carried out in tubs and buckets to the people.”
Said Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, “I was glad to escape from the
scene as soon as possible.” During his administration Jackson spent
more than $50,000 refurbishing the residence, including $10,000 on
decorations for the East Room and more than $4,000 on a sterling silver
dinner and dessert set decorated with an American eagle.

“Presidents Levee or All Creation Going to the White House”; aquatint

by Robert Cruickshank from the Playfair Papers.

“Presidents Levee or All Creation Going to the White House”; aquatint

by Robert Cruickshank from the Playfair Papers.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-USZ62-

1805)

In 1842 the visit to the United States of the English novelist Charles
Dickens brought an official invitation to the White House. After his calls
at the White House door went unanswered, Dickens let himself in and
walked through the mansion from room to room on the lower and
upper floors. Finally coming upon a room filled with nearly two dozen
people, he was shocked and appalled to see many of them spitting on
the carpet. Dickens later wrote, “I take it for granted the Presidential
housemaids have high wages.” Until the Civil War, however, most
White House servants were slaves. Moreover, the wages of all White
House employees—as well as the expenses for running the White
House, including staging official functions—were paid for by the
president. Not until 1909 did Congress provide appropriations to pay
White House servants.

Dickens was not the only foreign visitor to be disappointed with the
White House. On a trip to Washington just before the Civil War,
Aleksandr Borisovich Lakier, a Russian nobleman, wrote that “the home
of the president…is barely visible behind the trees.” The White House,
he said, was “sufficient for a private family and not at all conforming to
the expectations of a European.” Subsequent changes to the building in
the 19th century were relatively minor. The interior was redecorated
during various presidential administrations and modern conveniences
were regularly added, including a refrigerator in 1845, gas lighting in
1849, and electric lighting in 1891.

The White House was the scene of mourning after the assassination of
President Abraham Lincoln (1861–65). While Mary Todd Lincoln lay in
her room for five weeks grieving for her husband, many White House
holdings were looted. Responding to charges that she had stolen
government property when she left the White House, she angrily
inventoried all the items she had taken with her, including gifts of quilts
and waxworks from well-wishers.

SpaceNext50

The White House Since 1900

During the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, the mansion’s second-

floor rooms were converted from presidential offices to family living
quarters, not least because of the president’s six children. For them,
one observer said, “nothing [in the White House] was too sacred for
amusement and no place too good for a playroom.” Additional space
was needed for the children’s exotic pets, which included raccoons,
snakes, a badger, and a bear. To accommodate a growing presidential
staff and to provide more office space for the president, the West Wing
was constructed in 1902. More office space was made available with
the building of the East Wing in 1942. (The East and West wings are
connected to the main building by the east and west terraces.)
In 1948, during the presidency of Harry Truman (1945–53), the main
building was discovered to be structurally unsound; during the next
four years the entire interior was carefully rebuilt, though the original
exterior walls were left standing. A second-floor balcony was likewise
added on the south portico. The last major alterations to the White
House were made in the 1960s by Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of
President John F. Kennedy (1961–63). Renowned for her beauty and
refined taste, she collected and displayed items of historic and artistic
value throughout its rooms. She made the White House a centre of
national culture and awakened public interest in its beauties by
conducting a televised tour of the mansion in 1962.

The Green Room on the first floor of the White House, Washington,
D.C.

The Green Room on the first floor of the White House, Washington,
D.C.

Ping Amranand/SuperStock

The White House building complex has a total of more than 130 rooms.
The main building still contains the presidential family’s living quarters
and various reception rooms, all decorated in styles of the 18th and
19th centuries. Parts of the main building are open to the public. The
west terrace contains the press briefing room, and the east terrace
houses a movie theatre. The presidential office, known as the Oval
Office, is located in the West Wing, as are the cabinet and press rooms;
the East Wing contains other offices.

Over the years the White House has become a major American historic
site, attracting more than 1.5 million visitors annually. In 1995 the
section of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was closed
to automobile traffic because of concerns about terrorism, and the area
has since became popular with pedestrians and skaters. The allure of
the building has never waned, and few who enter its environs—visitors
and occupants alike—leave unaffected by its ambience and rich history.
Jefferson thought that the White House was too large, “big enough for
two emperors, one Pope, and the grand lama,” and Caroline Harrison,
wife of President Benjamin Harrison (1889–93), complained that there
was “no feeling of privacy” on the property. But Franklin Roosevelt
found it warm and comfortable. “My husband liked to be in the White
House on New Year’s Eve,” remembered Eleanor Roosevelt:

We always gathered a few friends, and at midnight in the oval study the
radio was turned on and we waited with the traditional eggnog in hand
for midnight to be announced. Franklin always sat in his chair and, as
the President, would raise his glass and say: “To the United States of
America.” All of us stood and repeated the toast after him. Somehow,
the words were especially meaningful and impressive in that house.
The White House is a unit of the National Capital Parks system and was
accredited as a museum in 1988.